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A study published in Science Advances showed that if a bleached coral is kept in contact for several days with a healthy, genetically identical fragment of the same colony, beneficial algae transfer to it through fused tissues, and it recovers in less than two months. The method is not yet applicable in the ocean because it requires 'twins,' but scientists are looking for a way to deliver the algae differently.
Child psychologist Sasha Hall and comedian Cariad Lloyd, on the CBeebies Parenting Download podcast, explained how to help a child who wasn't invited to a party: the situation is normal, parental intervention doesn't help, and it's better to offer an alternative and explain that it isn't about the child themselves.
The 2026 Nobel Prize laureates were announced from October 5 to 12. On October 5, the Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded for work on optogenetics and light-gated ion channels. In honor of the prize's 125th anniversary, the amount of each prize was increased from 11 to 12 million Swedish kronor.
According to NASA, the Perseverance rover had traveled 45.22 km across the surface of Mars as of October 11, 2026, breaking Opportunity's record of 45.16 km. The rover continues collecting rock samples for delivery to Earth and, according to the project manager, is in excellent technical condition.
In the summer of 2026, two studies — by Kathy Niakan's group in Cambridge and Dieter Egli's group at Columbia University — applied base editing to human embryos. The method is considered more precise and safer than classic CRISPR-Cas9, but mosaicism has not been reduced to zero, and ethical questions — the boundary between therapy and enhancement, consent, stigmatization — remain open. No country permits heritable changes.
At London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, metagenomic testing was applied to 122 children in intensive care in 2024–2025: it detected about 90% of bacteria and viruses and all fungi, and in a quarter of cases it influenced antibiotic prescribing. The results are published in Lancet Microbe; the method is being rolled out in roughly 30 intensive care units across the UK.
In the South Ustyurt National Nature Park in September, near the border with Turkmenistan, a rare bat species — the Turkmen long-eared bat (Plecotus turkmenicus) — was recorded in Uzbekistan for the first time. Previously, the species was known only from data collected before 1970 and museum specimens. The discovery was made during an expedition under a project of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Komila Farriyeva, born and raised in the American state of Georgia, moved to Uzbekistan eight months ago and studies at the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages. According to her, she communicates in 20 languages, 11 of which she knows perfectly, and she learned Uzbek through communication with Afghan Uzbeks in the USA. Her parents initially objected to the move.
NASA has published an image of the Saribara massif in Madagascar, where anorthosites — rocks similar to lunar ones — outcrop at the surface. The photo was taken on August 28, 2026 from the ISS by a member of Expedition 75 and was selected as the 'Picture of the Day' on October 5. The massif has long been studied: in 1998, the crystallization age of the anorthosites was estimated at about 660 million years.
Naked Science magazine has released a selection of winning and jury-highly-rated wildlife photographs. First place went to Kevin Shi's 'Struggle for Life' featuring a hunting cougar, second place to Marco Gaiotti's shot of a gelada in Ethiopia, and third place to Felix Belluain's image of a sleeping polar bear in Svalbard.
In Australia, a calf named Spider was born with extra legs growing from its head. Veterinarian Megan Smith stated that in 20 years of practice, she had never encountered such a case. The surgical removal of the extra limbs took about one and a half hours, after which the calf's condition improved rapidly. The exact cause of the anomaly remains unknown; possible explanations include the phenomenon of a 'parasitic twin,' developmental disorders, and genetic mutations, though none of these theories have been confirmed.
Excavations have begun at the Jarkutan archaeological site in Surkhandarya region under the leadership of Komil Rahimov. Mud-brick structures, a hearth 70 cm in diameter, a child burial, ceramic vessels and household pits dating to the 3rd–2nd millennia BCE have been found.
Zhang, a researcher at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, in an article for Global Times described three key challenges for Mars exploration: interplanetary communication, delivery of cargo and samples, and sustaining human life. China plans the Tianwen-3 mission around 2028 with sample return by 2031.
Cambridge scientists described a 15 mm diameter hole in the left shoulder blade of a Neanderthal from Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. In their view, the spear passed through the chest, likely damaging the lung and major vessels. This may be the earliest evidence of lethal violence with a wooden spear, although a hunting accident cannot be ruled out.
The Uzbekistan youth national team became the absolute champion of the international FIRST Global Challenge tournament in Incheon, South Korea: the team won all 16 matches, scored 637 points, set a tournament record, and claimed three gold medals. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree awarding the national team members and coaches.
Science Corporation reported the first implantation of its vision-restoring PRIMA chip in a patient with Stargardt disease — an inherited eye condition considered incurable. The surgery took place in May as part of trials in Sydney; already at the first rehabilitation sessions the patient was able to see a letter and read a word. CEO Max Hodak, previously a co-founder of Neuralink, announced the development at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.
Dr Lesel Dawson of the University of Bristol, drawing on her personal experience of losing her sister and the birth of her premature son, emphasizes the importance of open dialogue about grief. She argues that avoiding conversations and trying to follow the mythical stages of grief are harmful. In her view, the main support is presence and a willingness to listen, letting the bereaved person lead the conversation. Research shows a gap between people's readiness to talk about death and actual conversations. Dawson is co-director of the fem-
London Zoo has achieved the world's first captive breeding of the critically endangered Afia Birago's puddle frog: 15 froglets measuring about 5 mm have hatched. Twenty adult frogs were brought from Ghana in September 2025 to develop breeding techniques and share the experience with Ghanaian colleagues. The species lives only in two water bodies in the Atewa Forest Reserve, which are threatened by mining.
